Iraq

Last Updated (Monday, 29 November 1999 19:00) Written by Evan Kohlmann Thursday, 04 December 2008 19:00

The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a new communiqué from a prominent Sunni insurgent group in Iraq known as the Mujahideen Army. The statement, issued in response to a controversial recent audio address from Al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, angrily condemned Abu Hamza for spreading “hideous slander”, “fabrications”, and “falsifications” about the Mujahideen Army abandoning the cause of jihad. The Mujahideen Army insisted that they have neither joined in the Awakening movements, nor in “the methodology of fanaticism, of which [Al-Qaida is] the central pillar.” The group added, “in order to prevent our enemies from gloating over us… [and] drag[ging] our conflicts [with Al-Qaida] into the spotlight… that is the only reason why we kept silent about their actions and the crimes that their followers have committed… We didn’t kill a single one of them, although we could have if we had wanted to.” Countering with their own allegations of insurgent fratricide by Al-Qaida, the Mujahideen Army openly mocked the intelligence of Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, who “seems to believe that by randomly throwing out accusations against others, that will somehow make his fabrications come true and his imaginary illusions become real… to the extent that [he is] no longer acting out of concern for jihad, the Islamic nation, and our religion.”

Iraqi Insurgents Issue Open Letter to President-Elect Obama

Last Updated (Monday, 29 November 1999 19:00) Written by Evan Kohlmann Tuesday, 11 November 2008 19:00

The NEFA Foundation has obtained a new Arabic-language communiqué issued by the Political Council of the Iraqi Resistance (PCIR), an umbrella organization which oversees the political interests of several major Sunni insurgent groups in Iraq—including the Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI), the Salahudeen al-Ayyubi Brigades (JAAMI), Hamas al-Iraq, and the breakaway “Shariah Committee” from the former Ansar al-Sunnah Army. The statement from the PCIR, addressed to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, offered blunt advice “for the new American administration to benefit from and to use to avoid the mistakes that the old administration fell into. The reason why you won the presidency is not because the Americans suddenly found out that they should not be racist, it is because of the many mistakes that the Bush administration fell under which didn’t leave for the American citizen any room, not even for a second to think about keeping that administration and the least proof for this is the large numbers of votes against them. Your campaign promises were built on change and the time for it has come, and we say with that the time has come… therefore we ask for change and do not listen to those who tell you that a withdrawal from Iraq is a defeat. We say to you that a withdrawal will mean a triumph of reason and logic… You must correct your mistakes and work with courage to pay compensation to all those who you have destroyed, their families or their house or their psychology. And you must release all those you have as prisoners until the last Iraqi of them, and you must order the sectarian government to release all its prisoners and to return the balance of security to Iraq. Without this we will not think that you will be coming with the change that you have promised, and if you do this you will be written down in history as the courageous one.”

Message from Abu Omar al-Baghdadi to “New Rulers in White House”

Last Updated (Monday, 29 November 1999 19:00) Written by Evan Kohlmann Monday, 10 November 2008 19:00

The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a new audio recording from the Amir al-Mumineen (“Commander of the Faithful”) of Al-Qaida’s Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. According to al-Baghdadi, the purpose of the audio recording addressed to the “new rulers in the White House” was “to invite you amicably to change and improve your actions. It is not meant to intimidate or threaten you.” Al-Baghdadi mocked the inadequacies of the U.S. government, particularly demonstrated in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav, and characterized the U.S. as “a rather cartoonish civilization, for if the electricity is shut down or computers stop operating, you immediately return to a medieval state.” In concluding, al-Baghdadi offered a proposal of mutual benefit to the incoming Obama White House: “return to your former state of neutrality, withdraw your troops, and return to your homelands, and stop intervening in the affairs of our nations either directly or indirectly. If you do so, on our part, we shall guarantee you free trade, including the trade of petroleum—so long as it is conducted in a fair and equitable way, and not shoddily or without profit.”

Controversial Interview with AQI Leader Abu Hamza al-Muhajir

Last Updated (Monday, 29 November 1999 19:00) Written by Evan Kohlmann Sunday, 09 November 2008 19:00

The NEFA Foundation has transcribed and translated a highly controversial new interview with Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, the leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq. During the interview, produced by the official media wing of Al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Hamza pointedly accused various other Sunni insurgent groups—including the Islamic Army of Iraq (IAI), the Mujahideen Army, and the 1920 Revolution Brigades—of treachery and collaboration with U.S. forces and the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government. When asked by the Al-Qaida interviewer, “do you have military operations outside Iraq, such as in Western countries, for example? Do you have the intention of targeting Western interests?”, Abu Hamza responded, “Every country which has participated in the aggression on Iraq and in the crimes against the rights of our people are legitimate targets for us—for even if time grows long, rights are not forgotten or grow old. Indeed, we have already carried out many operations outside Iraq—one of which that should be particularly mentioned is the most recent operation in Britain, when part of [the mission] was carried out at the airport, and rest was a failure, due to a mistake committed by one of our brothers a few days before the operation, when he called to break the news that the operation was about to take place. However, we should give the leaders of Britain, America, and Australia some news about what is to come. What Allah has inspired in us, they have no power to counter and, with the help of Allah, no capacity to detect.”

AI Distances Itself From “Criminal Behavior” by Mujahideen in Iraq

Last Updated (Monday, 29 November 1999 19:00) Written by Evan Kohlmann Monday, 03 November 2008 19:00

The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a new communiqué issued by the Ansar al-Islam Organization in Iraq (formerly known as the Ansar al-Sunnah Army), in which the group distanced itself from “illegal actions” and “criminal behavior” allegedly committed by unspecified factions from within the jihadi movement in Iraq. Rejecting any responsibility for these “incidents”, the statement argued, “May Allah forbid that Ansar [al-Islam] would remain silent in the face of abominable actions as an approval of them—to the contrary, we have relied on remaining silent as our policy for a specific stage and for a specific purpose, which we consider to be crucial for us. Our silence is not based on actions—if it were so, it would be a false silence according to Shariah—but, rather, the silence was aimed at [avoiding] publishing condemnations in the media, because the enemy uses a strategy of media publicity for propaganda and to create rifts within the ranks of the mujahideen.”